Five years later, Ron retains his absolute conviction that the team did not benefit in any way from the actions of one rogue employee, and that at no time up to the point when Coughlan’s actions emerged was he aware of any wrongdoing. “Doubts were thrown on my personal integrity, but it is a simple fact that at every point in time I said exactly what I believed the truth to be. When I was told the size of the penalty that had been inflicted on McLaren, on the basis of what any court of law would deem to be circumstantial evidence, I felt that my only route was to go to the civil courts. But then I was privately told by two members of the World Council that if I did that, the punishment would be increased to a two-year ban. So against the loss of $100,000,000 I had to set the loss of all revenues for the entire team for two years, a far greater sum, and I had to take a pragmatic decision.“I could never come to terms, and never will, with my belief that a deep injustice had been done. Nor could I, or can I, accept that the magnitude of the penalty was remotely proportionate.

Even now, these many years later, I can feel fear when I think of that race. Only I knew what I had done, the chances I had taken.The Nurburgring, you know, was always my favourite circuit, without any doubt. I loved it, all of it, and I think that day I conquered it. On another day, it might have conquered me, who knows? But I believe that day I took myself and the car to the limit - and perhaps a little bit more. I had never driven like that before, and I knew I never would again.